New Dell computer won't connect to websites

I am having a problem with a new Dell computer. It connects to the internet with dial-up and we are able to send and receive e-mail and use Windows messenger. The dial-up's home page will come up and I think another "safe" site, but every other site we've tried says "page can't be displayed" or something like that. This happens when we use IE, so a friend that had the same problem suggested loading Netscape because that solved his problem. I did and Netscape will also go to the dial-up's homepage, but when I try to go somewhere else, a pop-up says "The connection was refused when attempting to contact (blah, blah,blah) ". I have contacted the dial-up provider, spent an hour and a half going over settings, clearing cookies, trying to visit sites, pinging sites, disabling firewalls, etc. Nothing helps. On another forum, someone suggested port 80 was blocked, but had no easy suggestions to solve the problem. Someone else said it sounded like a spyware problem, (even though the machine did this from the day we set it up!) I TRIED to contact Dell by phone since the computer has a warranty, and I can't get through even after waiting 40 minutes. Any suggestions???

 

Hi Gail61 and welcome.

If port 80 were blocked you would not get to ANY web page so that's not it.

Spyware or a virus could be the problem but if you never connected then probably not.

Is there any chance you could borrow an external modem and try with it? How about taking the PC to a friends house and trying from their phone? That would at least help you rule out a couple of problems.

I suspect you are going to just have to try for Dell support again and wait for them to answer though.

 

We've had a lot of good help from Dell tech support, but sometimes they're so busy (or so understaffed?) that they put you on hold forever. I recommend call them either very early morning or late at night when they are less busy. Should you tell them every little thing that you have tried so far? Hmm, hard to say. I lean towards just describing the symptoms very clearly to them and let them take it from there. One thing that could be very important is to write down EXACTLY what some of those error messages say when try to load a webpage.........

 

Gail61--See if you have the following file
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS
This is not Hosts.sam or LMHOSTS.sam, but just HOSTS.
If so, open it in Notepad and see if the sites you would like to visit are in there. Are they all preceded by 127.0.0.1 or 0.0.0.0?
Post back.

 

The computer belongs to my sister and I will have to check the machine when I am at her house sometime (soon). This is no longer just an IE problem but a Dell support problem. When they finally got a live person to talk to they were told that their 21 days of tech support were up (which they didn't even know they were limited to) and that for a fee they could get some help! After all we have been through trying to solve this problem, my sister was fed up with the whole thing and wanted to just take it back to them and they said no and didn't offer any more help. Isn't that nice? So, I am still looking for help to solve this problem:

Okay in the computer's host file there is only 127.0.0.1 local host


(well, instructions and an example, but otherwise nothing but the above.)

does that tell you anything???????

 

Looks like your "hosts" file has not been tampered with.
What ISP are you using?
Running WinXP, yes?
21 days of support? Is this a refurbished computer?

Try this, start>run>(type in) cmd >click OK>(type in)ipconfig /flushdns
Close the cmd window, and try to access websites. This command clears all DNS entries on your machine (absolutely safe to do) and will force your machine to use your ISP's DNS server for website addresses.

 

Grapevine (dial-up) is the ISP, but they have used it for years. XP home edition, no, NOT a refurbished computer. They said tech support is for, like three years, but they said that was for hardware issues and this was a software issue. Doesn't make sense to me. Seems like whatever kind of problem it is with a new computer, they ought to feel obligated to help someone at least start out right. Then if a person messes up their computer because they have viruses and other junk it's their own fault. Someone on another site had me looking at firewalls, which I had already done, but is there any way that a content filter from the ISP might mess things up? I know they have one they pay for every month, but I've never heard of it causing this kind of problem, just wondered. Anyway, I'll have them try the DNS thing. Thanks.

 

Always a possibility, have your Sister toggle the feature if that's an option.

Regards - Charles

 

Hi,
I too can't wave a magic wand your way but when I have sat before computers with the same or similiar issues at yours they have been extremely challenging and difficult to correct by phone (or whatever) but not impossible.From my own experience, several times it has been a configuartion issue. For example, I had to go to start, programs, accessories, communications then Internet Connection wizard and that solved that particular problem. I have more faith in this Microsoft bulletin board with the help they have given and provided than anything else but the bottom line some times is, someone may have to come to your house and sit before your computer otherwise this could be an on-going headache for you...

 

Gail61--Just a wild idea.
I wonder if the "home page" you say can be accessed is really being accessed from the PC's cache (stuff downloaded earlier) and you are really not currently able to reach the internet at all. In other words, you do not have an internet connection and will have to create one.
Try a variation on what TJ-IT suggested, but instead of ipconfig /flushdns type ipconfig /release |Enter, followed (at the new prompt) by ipconfig /renew|Enter. Can you now access the internet?
http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/windowsnetworkin1/ht/renewipaddrwxp.htm
I assume you have set up an internet account with Grapevine.
Can you phone Grapevine? If you are paying for internet service, they are not providing it and should help.

 

Sorry, I've "talked" to so many people about this problem I forget what I've told people. I do have an internet connection on the computer because I was on an on-line help session for 1 1/2 hours with the ISP and yes, they really should be helping more. And e-mail and messenger do work. I also felt it HAS to be some simple setting I'm missing, so I went to the ISP's web page and looked at their suggested settings and configurations. I will print off and take to my sister's computer and compare settings. The DNS flush was tried and didn't improve anything. Did e-mail Dell and plead for help and got back a nice e-mail response, we'll see if things improve in that department. Thanks and keep the suggestions comin'!

 

Gail61--Did you try the ipconfig /release and /renew suggestions?
I doubt Dell is going to help you on this, since it is a software or ISP problem, but who knows.
You could try turning Messenger off. And perhaps turn the firewall off, too. (Speaking of firewalls, WinXP comes with a firewall, installed by default. Did you also install a third party firewall, like Zone Alarm? If so, turn off the Windows Firewall. Control Panel|Windows Firewall. You should run only one firewall. Third party firewalls are generally better than Windows Firewall, since WF controls only incoming traffic.)

 

Finally got around to trying the ipconfig/release and renew and it came back with:

"no operation can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media disconnected "

what does THAT mean???

 

See if this helps:
This means that the ethernet cable is not snug on both ends - try unplugging, then plugging back in on both the computer end & the router/switch/modem/whatever end. If that doesn't work, try replacing the cable. Do you have pets? Cats are notorious for chewing ethernet cables

 

But ethernet doesn't have anything to do with dial-up, does it?

 

Hi,
I stand to be corrected if need be, but in answer to your question I believe the answer would be no...If you have dial up, then I apologize for missing that in the posting of this problem...

 

Gail61--The thing that throws me off is that you can reach the one internet site (your home page) but not others.
BUT...
Here is a reference about that message you got when you tried ipconfig /release and /renew (I assume you did try the latter, also).
http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=32252

I am assuming that you have access to internet sites on another PC and can read the above and its links. If not, let us know.
If nothing helps, as mentioned before, are you paying Grapevine for internet access? If so, can you phone them and ask for help. You are not getting what you are paying for.

 

It would appear that your internet "connection" is working, ie, messenger, homepage, onlinehelp, email are working Therefore modem, cabling etc can probably be ruled out. At this point I am thinking content filtering. Do you know if this is provided on the ISP's side? or installed and run on this computer?
--Have you tried Charlesvar's suggestion of toggling content filtering off?

--Can you provide ISP's homepage address?

--Can you connect to say www.google.com from this machine?

 

Hi,
Out of curiosity, can you check your "modem speed" if it has not been done already ??? Then you can consider downloading "Windows Media Player" and see if that is why your having the connection issue...I read some place that Windows Xp comes with it installed but since your computer is having a Media Access Connection issue, it may have become corrupted or something of the sort and downloading it may fix it...There's nothing to lose at this point...Keep us posted.

 

Hey! Well guess what??!?! The content filter was disabled by the ISP and now the internet connection is fine! Thanks for all the help, I'll be back if things go wacky again. We're off to load antivirus, antispam stuff...